After some encouragement from friends, along with my natural desire to help others, each week, I will be sharing what I know about cyber security fraud from my experience in law enforcement, ongoing trainings, latest news happenings around the world, and interviews with experts and readers with a desire to share their feedback or suggestions.
With all that's been happening in the world, I hope this platform will be a source to help you safeguard sensitive data.
It's important to know that these cyber criminals are plotting on a regular basis to deceive unsuspecting victims in a variety ways. They typically rush you into making regrettable errors such as-
- Opening an infected email attachment
- Sharing passwords
- Providing them restricted information they SHOULD NOT have access to
Being proactive against these types of attacks are not difficult. You have to understand, the best antivirus software won't stop all cyber security attacks. All of us have the responsibility to be mindful of the basic tools to protect ourselves, our families, and the organizations that employs us.
Beware of this type of Courier
This past October in Massachusetts, the North Brookfield Police Department issued a warning to residents of a new type of scam involving delivery of wine and flowers. The article is right below. https://www.masslive.com/news/2019/10/police-warning-people-of-new-clever-scam-that-ensnared-multiple-people-and-could-have-fooled-officers.html
To sum it up, a floral delivery person arrived at a couple's North Brookfield home with a package containing flowers and a wine. This couple were not expecting this gift and had no idea who sent it.
The driver claimed not knowing the identity of the sender and indicated a greeting card was sent separately but appeared to be in transit. Baffled husband and wife paid a $3.50 delivery fee by credit card to ensure the items were delivery to a person over 21 years of age. Supposedly, this was for the courier company's record keeping along with a signature.
So, the couple computed the requested financial information on a mobile card machine and the driver provided them a delivery receipt.
Within the next few days, this couple discovered $4,000 dollars withdrawn from their banking account. Withdrawals of this money occurred from different ATM machines.
While law enforcement in this case described this as a new type of swindle, apparently it has been happening for years. For example, check out this similar story from 2014-
So, evidently this new type of scam have been happening for a number of years. However; I am sure cyber thieves are constantly brain storming new methods of deceit against unsuspecting victims.
Nevertheless, this is just one of many fraudulent schemes exercised by cyber attackers all over the world. Their impact is obvious in the daily news and victims who are brave to share their experiences on social media.
We as indvividuals must be the steel barrier against these type of scams.
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As a former Special Police Officer, Court Security Officer, and Corrections Officer, I got a few nuggets of wisdom to pass on to all who want to keep themselves safe and secure from cyber predators. We're all in this together.
Ken Harris
Contributing Writer
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